Will Ferrell joins a growing number of A-list Hollywood talent that is finding new opportunities in the world of online streaming. Deadline reports that the comic film legend has signed on to produce and play the lead in a Netflix movie that is a remake of one of their recent documentaries, Legend of Cocaine Island.

The documentary tells the tale of a small-time business owner and family man Rodney Hyden. He comes to know about a cocaine dump worth two million stashed away in a secret hideout on Culebra, an island of Puerto Rico, which is nicknamed Cocaine Island. Hyden tries unsuccessfully to recover the drugs on his own but is unable to find the stash. That is when Hyden is contacted by two mysterious characters who offer to find the cocaine and split the profits if Hyden provides them with a map to the secret location.

Hyden obliges, only to discover the whole thing was a set up by the police and is entrapped in a drug possession case. He manages to get out of the whole ordeal with a light prison sentence and a few years of probation, and the documentary ends with the hint that most of the drugs stashed away on the island are still there waiting for someone to take possession.

It is the kind of bizarre, unexpected tale of tragicomedy that Will Ferrell excelled at bringing to the big screen in his prime. In recent years, the actor has played it somewhat safe, starring in suburban comedies and working with his longtime associates in the business.

However, with Will Ferrell's recent departure from his partnership with Adam McKay, who helped bring many of Ferrell's most famous projects to the big screen, the actor seems ready to stretch himself creatively and venture into new territories.

Apart from the Cocaine Island movie, Ferrell has also completed Eurovision for Netflix, a comedy directed by David Dobkin which tells the story of the actual global musical contest. Downhill is another movie that will feature Ferrell in the lead alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, which is a remake of a Swedish film.

All in all, Ferrell will be kept busy over the next few years, although he may be seen more often on streaming platforms that in theaters. But like it or not, that is the reality for a lot of original content coming out of Hollywood these days. Theaters are devoted almost entirely to franchise, sequels, and reboots, to such an extent that even a legendary filmmaker like Martin Scorsese, making a film with legendary actors like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci could only screen The Irishman in theaters for a limited period before the movie was removed to be streamed exclusively on Netflix.

In fact, many industry experts have opined that streaming platforms are the new home of comedies and dramas, while theaters will come to depend almost exclusively on big-budget spectacles like superhero movies or Disney musicals. Let us hope for the sake of diversity of viewing choices that this does not happen any time soon. This news comes from Deadline.